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{{flagicon|Lebanon}} [[Beirut]] <br />
{{flagicon|Syria}} [[Damascus]] <br />
{{flagicon|Israel}}
{{flagicon|Palestine}}
[[JerusalemGaza City|Gaza]] <br />
{{flagicon|Israel}}
[[Tel Aviv]] <br />
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}}
 
The '''Levant''' ({{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|v|æ|n|t}} {{respell|lə|VANT}}) is an approximate [[historical geography|historical geographical]] term referring to a large area in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] region of [[West Asia]] and core territory of the political term ''[[Middle East|]]''Middle East'']]. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in [[archaeology]] and other cultural contexts, it is equivalent to [[Cyprus]] and a stretch of land bordering the [[Mediterranean Basin|MediterraneanSea]] Sea in western Asia:<ref name=MG>Gasiorowski, Mark (2016). ''The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa''. p. 5: "... today the term ''Levantine'' can describe shared cultural products, such as Levantine [[cuisine]] or Levantine archaeology". {{isbn|081334994X}}.</ref><ref name=OHAL9>Steiner & Killebrew, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5H4fAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT32 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101142956/https://books.google.com/books?id=5H4fAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT32 |date=1 November 2022 }}: "The general limits ..., as defined here, begin at the Plain of 'Amuq in the north and extend south until the Wâdī al-Arish, along the northern coast of Sinai. ... The western coastline and the eastern deserts set the boundaries for the Levant ... The Euphrates and the area around Jebel el-Bishrī mark the eastern boundary of the northern Levant, as does the Syrian Desert beyond the Anti-Lebanon range's eastern hinterland and Mount Hermon. This boundary continues south in the form of the highlands and eastern desert regions of Transjordan."</ref> i.e. the historical [[Syria (region)|region of Syria]] ("Greater Syria"), which includes present-day [[Israel]], [[Jordan]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], the [[Palestinian territories]] and most of [[Turkey]] southwest of the middle [[Euphrates]]. Its overwhelming characteristic is that it represents the [[land bridge]] between [[Africa]] and [[Eurasia]].<ref name=OHAL9/> In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the Eastern Mediterranean with its islands;<ref name=ODO2015>{{harvnb|Oxford Dictionaries|2015}}.</ref> that is, it included all of the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from [[Greece]] in Southern [[Southern Europe]] to [[Cyrenaica]], [[Libya|Eastern Libya]] in [[Northern Africa]].<ref name=OEAGR /><ref name=Encarta/><ref>Pierre-Louis Gatier, E. Gubel, Philippe Marquis. ''The Levant History and Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean,'' Könemann, Page 7</ref>
 
In the [[13th century|13th]] and [[14th century|14th]] centuries, the term ''levante'' was used for Italian maritime commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, [[Anatolia]], [[Syria (region)|Syria-Palestine]], and [[Egypt]], that is, the lands east of [[Republic of Venice|Venice]].<ref name=OEAGR /> Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine and Egypt.<ref name=OEAGR /> The term entered English in the late [[15th century]] from French.<ref name=ODO2015/> It derives from the Italian {{lang|it|levante}}, meaning "rising", implying the rising of the Sun in the east,<ref name=OEAGR /><ref name=Encarta/> and is broadly equivalent to the term ''[[Mashriq|al-Mashriq]]'' ({{lang-ar|ٱلْمَشْرِق}}, {{IPAc-ar|ʔ|a|l|.|m|a|ʃ|.|r|i|q|}}),<ref>{{harvnb|Gagarin|2009|p=247}}; {{harvnb|Naim|2011|p=921}};
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* Jeff Lesser (1999), ''Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil'' p. 45</ref> meaning "the eastern place, where the Sun rises".{{sfn|Naim|2011|p=921}}
 
In 1581, [[England]] set up the [[Levant Company]] to trade with the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name=OEAGR /> The name ''Levant States'' was used to refer to the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|French mandate over Syria and Lebanon]] after [[World War I]].<ref name=OEAGR /><ref name=Encarta/> This is probably the reason why the term ''Levant'' has come to be used more specifically to refer to modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and the island of [[Cyprus]].<ref name=OEAGR /> Some scholars mistakenly believed that it derives from the name of Lebanon.<ref name=OEAGR /> Today the term is often used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It has the same meaning as "Syria-Palestine" or ''Ash-[[Shaam]]'' ({{lang-ar|ٱلشَّام}}, {{IPA|/ʔaʃ.ʃaːm/}}), the area that is bounded by the [[Taurus Mountains]] of [[Turkey]] in the north, the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the west, the north [[Arabian Desert]] and [[Mesopotamia]] in the east, and Sinai in the south (which can be fully included or not).<ref name=OHAL2>Steiner & Killebrew, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5H4fAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101142958/https://books.google.com/books?id=5H4fAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |date=1 November 2022 }}.</ref><ref name=OHAL9/> Typically, it does not include [[Anatolia]] (also calledknown as Asia Minor), the [[Caucasus]] Mountains, or any part of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] proper. [[Cilicia]] (in Asia Minor) and the [[Sinai Peninsula]] (Asian Egypt) are sometimes included.
 
As a name for the contemporary region, several dictionaries consider Levant to be archaic today.<ref>LEVANT ''archaic'' The eastern part of the Mediterranean with the islands and neighbouring countries. ''New Oxford Dictionary of English'', 2nd ed., revised, 2005.</ref><ref>"LEVANT, THE". "A general term formerly given to the E shores of the Mediterranean Sea from W Greece to Egypt". ''The Penguin Encyclopedia'', revised 2nd ed., 2004.</ref><ref>LEVANT, (''vieilli'') ''Le Levant'': les pays, les régions qui sont au levant (par rapport à la France) et spécialt. les régions de la Méditerrranée orientale. ''Le Nouveau Petit Robert de la langue française'', (1993 revised ed.).</ref> Both the noun ''Levant'' and the adjective ''Levantine'' are now commonly used to describe the ancient and modern culture area formerly called Syro-Palestinian or Biblical: archaeologists now speak of the Levant and of [[Levantine archaeology]];<ref>Thomas Evan Levy, ''Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future: The New Pragmatism'', Routledge, 2016 {{isbn|1134937466}}. Thomas E. Levy, "The New Pragmatism", p. 8: "after 1994, it is possible to see an increase in the use of the less geographically specific and more political [sic] neutral words 'Levant' or 'Levantine' in scholarly citations.... It is important to highlight the pedigree of the term 'Syro-Palestinian' and its gradual replacement by the term 'Levant' or 'Levantine' because the latter is a more culturally and politically neutral term that more accurately reflects the tapestry of countries and peoples of the region, without assuming directionality of cultural influence.". Aaron A. Burke, "The Archaeology of the Levant in North America: The Transformation of Biblical and Syro-Palestinian Archaeology" p. 82''ff'': "A number of factors account for the gradual emergence during the past two decades of what is now widely identified as Levantine archaeology in North America... a growing consensus regarding the appropriate terminology... archaeological field research in the Levant"</ref><ref>William G. Dever, ''The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: When Archaeology and the Bible Intersect'', 2012, {{isbn|0802867014}}, p. 249: "Today, however, the discipline is often called Palestinian, Syro-Palestinian, or Levantine archaeology."</ref><ref>Steiner & Killebrew (2013). p. 1-2.</ref> food scholars speak of [[Levantine cuisine]];<ref name=MG/> and the [[Latin Church|Latin Christians]] of the Levant continue to be called [[Levantines (Latin Catholics)|Levantine Christians]].<ref>Michel Elias Andraos, "Levantine Catholic Communities in the Diaspora at the Intersection of Many Identities and Worlds", in Michael L. Budde, ''Scattered and Gathered: Catholics in Diaspora'', 2017 {{isbn|1532607091}} p. 24: "The word 'Levantine' in the title is used on purpose instead of the 'Middle East' or the 'Near East'.... I use 'Levantine' more than the two other designations, because this is the term being used more often nowadays by Christian communities in the Middle East to describe their shared identity as ''al-maseeheyoun al-mashriqeyoun'', Levantine Christians"</ref>
 
The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of [[Western Asia]], the Eastern Mediterranean, and [[Northeast Africa]]",<ref name=UCL/> and in [[geology|geological]] ([[tectonics|tectonic]]) terms as the "northwest of the [[Arabian Plate]]".<ref>''Egyptian Journal of Geology'', Volume 42, Issue 1, p. 263, 1998</ref> The populations of the Levant<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/israel/ashkelon-text.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228113259/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/israel/ashkelon-text.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 February 2008 |title=Ancient Ashkelon – National Geographic Magazine |publisher=Ngm.nationalgeographic.com |date=2002-10-17 |access-date=2011-10-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15479879 | work=BBC News | title=The state of Israel: Internal influence driving change | date=2011-11-06}}</ref> share not only the geographic position, but [[Middle eastern cuisine|cuisine]], some customs, and [[Ancient Near East|history]]. They are often referred to as ''Levantines''.<ref>Orfalea, Gregory (2006). ''The Arab Americans: A History''. Olive Branch Press. Northampton, MA. Page 249.</ref>
 
==Etymology==
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|14|4300000|164|4800000|500|4127000|900|3120000|1200|2700000|1700|2028000|1897|3231874|1914|3448356|1922|3198951|footnote = Source:<ref>{{cite web|last=Mutlu|first=Servet|title=Late Ottoman population and its ethnic distribution|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/213586|pages=29–31}} Corrected population M8.</ref><ref>Frier, Bruce W. "Demography", in Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, and Dominic Rathbone, eds., ''The Cambridge Ancient History XI: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192'', (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 827–54.</ref><ref>{{Setton-A History of the Crusades|last=Russell|first=Josiah C.|chapter=The Population of the Crusader States|pages=295–314|volume=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Syria Population - Our World in Data |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/population?time=0..latest&country=~SYR |website=www.ourworldindata.org |language=en}}</ref>
}}
The vast majority of Levantines are [[Muslim]]s. After the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]] in the 7th century introduced [[Islam]] into the region,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh N. |author-link=Hugh N. Kennedy |date=2007 |title=The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In |url=https://archive.org/details/greatarabconques00kenn_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Da Capo Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatarabconques00kenn_0/page/376 376] |isbn=978-0-306-81728-1}}</ref> but[[Islam]] thewas bulkfirst ofintroduced into the populationregion. However, a Muslim majority in Syriathe andLevant [[Upperis Mesopotamia|upperpresumed Mesopotamia]]to have remainedbeen Christianreached untilby the 13th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lapidus |first=Ira M. |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |date=13 October 2014 |orig-year=1988 |title=A History of Islamic Societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFJNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |edition=3rd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=70 |isbn=978-0-521-51430-9}}</ref> The majority of Levantine Muslims are [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]s adhering to the four [[Madhhab|madhhabs]] ([[Hanafi school|Hanafi]], [[Shafi'i school|Shafi'i]], [[Hanbali school|Hanbali]] and [[Maliki school|Maliki]]). Islamic minorities include the [[Alawites|Alawite]]s and [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Ismaili]]s in Syria, and [[Lebanese Shia Muslims|Twelver Shiites]] in [[Lebanon]].▼
The largest religious group in the Levant are [[Muslim]]s, and the majority identify as [[Arabs]] who speak [[Levantine Arabic]], a variety of Arabic descended from the pre-Islamic Arabic dialects of Syria and [[Hejazi Arabic]], but retains significant influence from [[Western Middle Aramaic]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Retsö |first1=Jan |title="Aramaic in Levantine Dialects" in "Aramaic/Syriac Loanwords" |website=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill Reference Online |access-date=7 February 2024 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics|quote=The Arabic spoken in Syria and Mesopotamia has replaced Aramaic dialects there and it can be assumed that a bilingual situation existed for a long time and that numerous Aramaic lexemes found their way into Arabic during this period. The presence of Aramaic lexemes is well studied in Lebanese Arabic (Féghali 1918; Freyha 1973) and the dialects spoken in the Anti-Lebanon (Arnold and Behnstedt 1993) but can be found in dictionaries from the entire Syro-Palestinian area (cf. Barbot 1961). The material collected by Féghali and Freyha shows that, unlike in the ʿarabiyya, most borrowings preserve the Aramaic phonology… The Aramaic vocabulary is likely to be the largest foreign element in the Arabic lexicon even if the exact extent is difficult to define.}}</ref>
 
▲The [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]] in the 7th century introduced [[Islam]] into the region,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh N. |author-link=Hugh N. Kennedy |date=2007 |title=The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In |url=https://archive.org/details/greatarabconques00kenn_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Da Capo Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatarabconques00kenn_0/page/376 376] |isbn=978-0-306-81728-1}}</ref> but the bulk of the population in Syria and [[Upper Mesopotamia|upper Mesopotamia]] remained Christian until the 13th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lapidus |first=Ira M. |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |date=13 October 2014 |orig-year=1988 |title=A History of Islamic Societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFJNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |edition=3rd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=70 |isbn=978-0-521-51430-9}}</ref> The majority of Levantine Muslims are [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]s adhering to the four [[Madhhab|madhhabs]] ([[Hanafi school|Hanafi]], [[Shafi'i school|Shafi'i]], [[Hanbali school|Hanbali]] and [[Maliki school|Maliki]]). Islamic minorities include the [[Alawites|Alawite]]s and [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Ismaili]]s in Syria, and [[Lebanese Shia Muslims|Twelver Shiites]] in [[Lebanon]].
 
Levantine Christian groups include [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch|Greek Orthodox]] ([[Antiochian Greek Christians|Antiochian Greek]]), [[Syriac Orthodox]], [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] ([[Syriac Catholic Church|Syriac Catholic]], [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church|Melkite]] and [[Maronite Church|Maronite]]), [[Roman Catholic]] ([[Latin Church|Latin]]), [[Church of the East|Nestorian]], and [[Protestantism|Protestant]]. [[Armenians]] mostly belong to the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]. There are also [[Levantines (Latin Christians)|Levantines or Franco-Levantines]] who adhere to [[Roman Catholicism]]. There are also [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]s belonging to the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] and the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]].<ref name=gulf2014>{{cite web |title=Christian Population of Middle East in 2014 |date=2017 |publisher=The Gulf/2000 Project, School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University |url=http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Christians_Middle_East_2014_lg.png |access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref>
 
Other religious groups in the Levant include [[Jews]], [[Samaritans]], [[Yazidi]]s and [[Druze]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPBfnT_E1mgC&pg=PA16 |title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia|access-date=26 May 2014|isbn=978-1-59884-362-0|last1=Shoup|first1=John A|date=2011-10-31|publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref>
 
In addition, this region has a number of sites that are of [[religious significance of the Syrian region|religious significance]] for [[Abrahamic religions]], such as [[Temple Mount|Masjid Al-Aqsa]],<ref name=AbuSway>{{cite news |title=The Holy Land, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Qur'an, Sunnah and other Islamic Literary Source |author=Mustafa Abu Sway |url=http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Abusway_0.pdf |publisher=[[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728001911/http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Abusway_0.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-28 }}</ref> the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]],<ref name=Sacred>{{cite web |publisher= Sacred-destinations.com |title= Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem |location= Jerusalem |date=2010-02-21 |url= http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-church-of-holy-sepulchre.htm |access-date=2012-07-07}}</ref> the [[Western Wall]] in [[Jerusalem]], [[Sayyidah Zainab Mosque, Damascus|Sayyidah Zainab Mosque]] in [[Damascus]] and [[Antioch]] in [[Hatay Province|Hatay]].
 
=== Genetics ===▼
According to recent [[ancient DNA]] studies, Levantines derive most of their ancestry from [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] of the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron]] age Levant.<ref name="Haber">{{cite journal |title=A Genetic History of the Near East from an aDNA Time Course Sampling Eight Points in the Past 4,000 Years |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |year=2020 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.05.008|last1=Haber |first1=Marc |last2=Nassar |first2=Joyce |last3=Almarri |first3=Mohamed A. |last4=Saupe |first4=Tina |last5=Saag |first5=Lehti |last6=Griffith |first6=Samuel J. |last7=Doumet-Serhal |first7=Claude |last8=Chanteau |first8=Julien |last9=Saghieh-Beydoun |first9=Muntaha |last10=Xue |first10=Yali |last11=Scheib |first11=Christiana L. |last12=Tyler-Smith |first12=Chris |volume=107 |issue=1 |pages=149–157 |pmid=32470374 |pmc=7332655 }}</ref> Other Arabs include the [[Bedouins]] of [[Syrian Desert]], Naqab and [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|eastern Syria]], who speak [[Bedouin Arabic]]. Non-Arab minorities include [[Circassians]], [[Chechens]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], [[Jews]], [[Turkmens]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Kurdish people|Kurds]], [[Nawar people|Nawars]] and [[Armenians]].▼
 
=== Languages ===
[[File:Map Arabic in the Levant.jpg|alt=|thumb|Map representing the distribution of the Arabic dialects in the area of the Levant]]
 
Most populations in the Levant speak [[Levantine Arabic]] ({{lang|ar|شامي}}, {{transl|ar|Šāmī}}), usuallya classifiedvariety asof Arabic descended from the varietiespre-Islamic Arabic dialects of Syria and [[Hejazi Arabic]], but retaining significant influence from [[Western Middle Aramaic]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Retsö |first1=Jan |title="Aramaic in Levantine Dialects" in "Aramaic/Syriac Loanwords" |website=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill Reference Online |access-date=7 February 2024 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics|quote=The Arabic spoken in Syria and Mesopotamia has replaced Aramaic dialects there and it can be assumed that a bilingual situation existed for a long time and that numerous Aramaic lexemes found their way into Arabic during this period. The presence of Aramaic lexemes is well studied in Lebanese Arabic (Féghali 1918; Freyha 1973) and the dialects spoken in the Anti-Lebanon (Arnold and Behnstedt 1993) but can be found in dictionaries from the entire Syro-Palestinian area (cf. Barbot 1961). The material collected by Féghali and Freyha shows that, unlike in the ʿarabiyya, most borrowings preserve the Aramaic phonology… The Aramaic vocabulary is likely to be the largest foreign element in the Arabic lexicon even if the exact extent is difficult to define.}}</ref> Levantine Arabic is usually classified as [[North Levantine Arabic]] in Lebanon, Syria, and parts of Turkey, and [[South Levantine Arabic]] in Palestine and Jordan. Each of these encompasses a spectrum of regional or urban/rural variations. In addition to the varieties normally grouped together as "Levantine", a number of other varieties and dialects of Arabic are spoken in the Levant area, such as [[Levantine Bedawi Arabic]] (by [[Bedouins]]) and [[Mesopotamian Arabic]] (in eastern Syria).<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2018-07-21|title=Jordan and Syria|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/map/JOSY|website=[[Ethnologue]]}}</ref>
 
Among the [[languages of Israel]], the official language is [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]; Arabic was until July 19, 2018, also an official language.<ref name= NYT2018>{{cite news|access-date=2018-07-21|title=Israeli Law Declares the Country the 'Nation-State of the Jewish People'|newspaper=The New York Times |date=19 July 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/middleeast/israel-law-jews-arabic.html|last1=Halbfinger |first1=David M. |last2=Kershner |first2=Isabel }}</ref> The [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arab minority]], in 2018 about 21% of the population of Israel,<ref name=NYT2018/> speaks a dialect of Levantine Arabic essentially indistinguishable from the forms spoken in the Palestinian territories.
 
Of the [[languages of Cyprus]], the two official languages are Turkish and Greek. The most used languages by population are Greek in the south followed by Turkish in the north. Two minority languages are recognized: [[Armenian language|Armenian]], and [[Cypriot Maronite Arabic]], a hybrid of mostly medieval Arabic vernaculars with strong influence from contact with Turkish and Greek, spoken by approximately 1,000 people.<ref name=Versteegh>{{cite book |last=Versteegh |first=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |year=2011 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-14976-2 |pages=541}}</ref>
 
[[Western Neo-Aramaic]] is additionally spoken in three villages in Syria: [[Maaloula]], [[Jubb'adin]] and [[Al-Sarkha (Bakhah)|Bakhah]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=[[Rafik Schami]] |title=Märchen aus Malula |date=25 July 2011 |publisher=Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Company KG |isbn=9783446239005 |page=151 |language=German |quote=Ich kenne das Dorf nicht, doch gehört habe ich davon. Was ist mit Malula?‹ fragte der festgehaltene Derwisch. >Das letzte Dorf der Aramäer< lachte einer der…}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Yaron Matras |author2=Jeanette Sakel |title=Grammatical Borrowing in Cross-Linguistic Perspective |date=2007 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110199192 |page=185 |doi=10.1515/9783110199192 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110199192/html |language=English |quote=The fact that nearly all Arabic loans in Ma'lula originate from the period before the change from the rural dialect to the city dialect of Damascus shows that the contact between the Aramaeans and the Arabs was intimate…}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Dr. Emna Labidi |title=Untersuchungen zum Spracherwerb zweisprachiger Kinder im Aramäerdorf Dschubbadin (Syrien) |date=2022 |publisher=LIT |isbn=9783643152619 |page=133 |url=https://www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/978-3-643-15261-9 |language=German |quote=Aramäer von Ǧubbˁadīn}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold |author2=P. Behnstedt |title=Arabisch-aramäische Sprachbeziehungen im Qalamūn (Syrien) |date=1993 |publisher=Harassowitz |isbn=9783447033268 |page=42 |language=German |quote=Die arabischen Dialekte der Aramäer}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold |author2=P. Behnstedt |title=Arabisch-aramäische Sprachbeziehungen im Qalamūn (Syrien) |date=1993 |publisher=Harassowitz |isbn=9783447033268 |page=5 |language=German |quote=Die Kontakte zwischen den drei Aramäer-dörfern sind nicht besonders stark.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold |title=Lehrbuch des Neuwestaramäischen |date=2006 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=9783447053136 |page=133 |url=https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/isbn_978-3-447-05313-6.ahtml |language=German |quote=Aramäern in Ma'lūla}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold |title=Lehrbuch des Neuwestaramäischen |date=2006 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=9783447053136 |page=15 |language=German |quote=Viele Aramäer arbeiten heute in Damaskus, Beirut oder in den Golfstaaten und verbringen nur die Sommermonate im Dorf.}}</ref>
Some communities and populations speak [[Western Neo-Aramaic|Aramaic]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Circassian language|Circassian]], [[French language|French]], [[Russian language|Russian]], or [[English language|English]].{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
 
Among diaspora communities based in the Levant, [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and [[Circassian language|Circassian]] are also spoken.
 
▲=== Genetics ===
▲ According to recent [[ancient DNA]] studies, Levantines derive most of their ancestry from [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] of the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron]] age Levant.<ref name="Haber">{{cite journal |title=A Genetic History of the Near East from an aDNA Time Course Sampling Eight Points in the Past 4,000 Years |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |year=2020 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.05.008|last1=Haber |first1=Marc |last2=Nassar |first2=Joyce |last3=Almarri |first3=Mohamed A. |last4=Saupe |first4=Tina |last5=Saag |first5=Lehti |last6=Griffith |first6=Samuel J. |last7=Doumet-Serhal |first7=Claude |last8=Chanteau |first8=Julien |last9=Saghieh-Beydoun |first9=Muntaha |last10=Xue |first10=Yali |last11=Scheib |first11=Christiana L. |last12=Tyler-Smith |first12=Chris |volume=107 |issue=1 |pages=149–157 |pmid=32470374 |pmc=7332655 }}</ref> Other Arabs include the [[Bedouins]] of [[Syrian Desert]], Naqab and [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|eastern Syria]], who speak [[Bedouin Arabic]]. Non-Arab minorities include [[Circassians]], [[Chechens]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], [[Jews]], [[Turkmens]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Kurdish people|Kurds]], [[Nawar people|Nawars]] and [[Armenians]].
 
==See also==
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[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:Regions of Asia]]
[[Category:Geographical regions of the Arabian Peninsula]]
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